CGTalk - OBJ Import Question

twosheds

09-13-2009, 11:05 PM

Hi,

Using the Softimage 7.5 trial here...

I'm modeling a room in Lightwave Modeler. I guess I could quickly try to learn Softimage modeling, but I want to spend my demo time learning how to render and other things.

So it seems to me that in Softimage, shaders or surfaces or materials are applied on a per-object basis. In Lightwave I've been used to being able to make things one entire object and assign surface groups with UVs. That's how it's done in LW, and you apply your surface properties to the material groups, not the object as a whole.

So can I do that in Softimage? Or do I need to have everything I want to have a separate surface be a physically separate object? I tried a quick import test with two objects that were two physically separate objects in LW, and exported them as one OBJ file, but Softimage sees that as only one object.

Ideally, I'd prefer to be able to import my room as only one object, with separate materials for the walls, trim, floor, and so on.

Any tips for importing OBJ into Softimage would be greatly appreciated. :)

Jettatore

09-13-2009, 11:27 PM

You can assign a unique material to each cluster on an object, and make as many clusters are you would like. You will likely have to create these clusters in Softimage directly, as I am not aware of a cross-platform file format that supports them. If you already have UV's coming in with your .obj's you could use the texture editor as a means to isolate your selections for creating clusters.

ShaderOp

09-13-2009, 11:29 PM

SI does have native LWO import: "Menu: File->Import->Point Oven-> Point Oven LWO Import" on the menu. And as far as I know, it does retain surface information for LWO objects (just make sure to leave "Import surfaces" checked in the import dialog).

Once an LWO object is imported, all the surface information is converted to materials. Hit Ctrl+7 to show the Material Manager, and you should see all your surfaces in there.

twosheds

09-13-2009, 11:57 PM

Thanks so much for the answers! :)
I see now that the Ctrl+7 Material Manager has all that in it. I was just looking in the Render Tree before.
What can I say - I'm just an XSI n00b. ;)

twosheds

09-14-2009, 02:32 AM

One thing I've discovered is if I export an OBJ file from LW that has polygon part groups assigned to it, even though it's only one object, the individual parts can be treated as separate objects.
If I export the same OBJ file with no polygon part groups, it's treated as only one object and I can only select the thing as a whole.
Pretty cool. I was worried at first there I'd have to totally redo my Lightwave objects to try out in Softimage.

And I have to say I'm totally blown away with the options for lighting and rendering in Softimage, especially the Mental Ray GI and Final Gather options. Just beautiful. :)

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09-14-2009, 02:32 AM

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